In the world of celebrity news, there’s no shortage of hits and misses. This week, Brad Pitt donates lots of money in support of same-sex marriage and Carly Rae Jepsen gets sued for copyright infringement.
HIT: Brad Pitt donates $100,000 in support of marriage equality
Continuing on his crusade to save the world, Brad Pitt pledged to match all donations made to the Human Rights Campaign in 24 hours up to $100,000 in support of same-sex marriage. The HRC currently have ballot campaigns in the states of Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington where the issue will be put to vote on Election Day. Glad to know a portion of Pitt’s rumoured $7 million Chanel No. 5 contract is going to a good place.
MISS: Carly Rae Jepsen sued over a couple of “oh OH oh’s”
According to a report by Billboard.com, Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City’s Adam Young are being sued for copyright infringement. Alabama-based singer Allyson Nichole Burnett claims that the song, “Good Time” by Jepsen and Owl City is remarkable close to her own diddy, “Ah, It’s a Love Song.” Burnett pretty much claims that the “oh, oh, oh” portions are similar in pitch sequence, melodic contour, etc. Someone’s been sippin’ on that haterade…
HIT: Stephen King surprises New Brunswick high school for Halloween
To help celebrate Halloween, Stephen King paid a surprise visit to a New Brunswick high school last Friday. Sussex Regional High School in Sussex, NB have been persuading the horror author to visit their school with parody videos, letters and King-inspired artwork. A visit from King sounds so much better than a surprise clown attack (I still refuse to read/watch King’s It. I like sleeping at night).
MISS: Star Wars Episode 7 will soon a be reality
Apparently, Disney’s $4.05 billion acquisition of Star Wars means Mouse Ears plans to release THREE MORE Star Wars film with episode 7 to come out by 2015. Wait a minute. Has no one learned from Episodes 1, 2 AND 3? ANAKIN, NO!!!
HIT: The Jersey Shore house survived Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy pretty much decimated the east coast earlier this week. Included in Sandy’s path of destruction was Snooki’s home away from home, Seaside Heights, NJ. By some miracle, the famous Jersey Shore house managed to escape Sandy’s wrath. Hey, MTV! I think it’s a sign. Maybe we need just one more season of Jersey Shore? Or at least a special. The crew could help the community clean up instead of causing drunk havoc.
MISS: Gene Hackman smacked a homeless guy
According to Sante Fe, New Mexico police, legendary actor Gene Hackman slapped a homeless guy in self-defense. The 82-year-old actor slapped the man after he called Hackman’s wife a dirty name. I mean, I know Hackman is a badass and I’m all for old time-y chivalry. But I’d rather walk away from a potential physical confrontation especially if the guy had a record of battery charges, like the man on the receiving end of Hackman’s open-handed blow. Safety first, kids.
After some secret messages were exchanged through their music, rumours started circulating about a potential romance between Adam Young and Taylor Swift. We all know nothing really happened around Valentine’s Day but we’re still curious about what exactly went down. We asked Owl City about his musical flirting with Taylor Swift and a rather controversial blog post about changing his musical style.
Want to meet Owl City in Vancouver this fall? ANDPOP and Universal Music Canada are teaming up to fly one lucky winner and a guest to Vancouver to see Owl City in concert on Sept. 28 at The Commodore Ballroom. After the show, you’ll have a one-on-one meet and greet with singer/songwriter Adam Young, where you can ask him any burning questions you’ve been dying to ask.
Here’s what you have to do:
Fill out the form below! The contest is open to anyone in Canada (excluding Quebec) and will run from Aug. 20 to Sept. 15. Only one entry per person. You get extra points for liking us on Facebook (ie. make sure to like us on Facebook!).
* Again, winners will receive two tickets to Owl City’s Sept. 28 concert and airfare for themselves and a guest flying from anywhere in Canada, excluding Quebec. Room/board isn’t included.
Sorry. This form is no longer available.
Want to meet Owl City in Vancouver this fall? ANDPOP and Universal Music Canada are teaming up to fly one lucky winner and a guest to Vancouver to see Owl City in concert on Sept. 28 at The Commodore Ballroom. After the show, you’ll have a one-on-one meet and greet with singer/songwriter Adam Young, where you can ask him any burning questions you’ve been dying to ask.
Here’s what you have to do:
Fill out the form below! The contest is open to anyone in Canada (excluding Quebec) and will run from Aug. 20 to Sept. 15. Only one entry per person.
* Again, winners will receive two tickets to Owl City’s Sept. 28 concert and airfare for themselves and a guest flying from anywhere in Canada, excluding Quebec.
Sorry. This form is no longer available.
At times Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City’s new music video for “Good Time” feels like one of those car or beer commercials where you think “man, life would be pretty rad if my fashion-savvy friends and I went on road trips to the wilderness and had masked dance parties around a bonfire.”
If you didn’t gather from the title of the track, the point of the song is that no matter what a boring pit your life seems to be you can always have a good time if you’re with your friends. I really don’t know how you can have a bad time weaving flower headbands, driving in expensive-looking red convertibles (with the top down, of course) and swimming in hidden caves.
Still, this summer anthem reminds me to relish these last couple months of warm weather with the carefree and spontaneous vibe of youth. The track will be on Owl City a.k.a Adam Young’s new album The Midsummer Station and is expected to be included on Jepsen’s album later this year.
Watch the video here:
“Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen is one of those chirpy, positive duets that makes you feel all warm and bubbly. The single will appear on both of their next albums and has already been covered by tons of YouTube fans.
In the meantime, tons of YouTubers are recording their own versions of the track. Here are some of our faves:
Carlijn and Merle ft. Kjelt
This cover of “Good Time” brings the track right back to the basics. The two ladies Carlijn and Merle sing the song with the help of a guitar. Their harmonies are perfect and we love that they mixed in Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” midway through. You can tell they’re legit having a good time in the bloopers at the end.
CIMORELLI Read more…
“Touch’n You” — Rick Ross ft. Usher
Rick Ross shows off his softer side with Usher by his side in the music video for “Touch’n You,” the first single off the upcoming album God Forgives I Don’t. It’s a little weird seeing Rozay doing something other than rapping about guns and drugs, but he wines and dines his lady convincingly enough, playing chess and lounging by the pool together. Meanwhile, Usher whispers and croons sweet nothings causing women everywhere to get weak in the knees. God Forgives I Don’t drops on July 31.
“Good Girls (Don’t Grow on Trees)” — Cris Cab ft. Big Sean
Nineteen-year-old Cris Cab is probably the world’s happiest up and coming artist right now. Not only did Pharell co-write his first single “Good Girls (Don’t Grow on Trees)” and Big Sean lend his talent to the single, but Wyclef Jean also produced this great reggae-inspired track. That’s three hip-hop powerhouses putting faith in a kid from Miami whose claim to fame is quirky covers of hip hop songs and the result is wonderful. Cab sings about treating his woman right, since good girls are special and hard to find. It’s nice to see a young man brought up so well…I wonder if he’s single…
“Good Time” — Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen Read more…
If you’re still trying to get Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” out of your head, you might be out of luck once again with her next single.
Collaborating with Owl City (remember that song Fireflies guys?!), the two sing a duet in a new song called “Good Time.”
“I feel like every artist is inherently granted one shot to sing about having a good time in his or her life, and six months ago, I realized I hadn’t cashed in my chips yet,” Adam Young of Owl City told MTV News of the tune.
“So I thought, ‘I’m gonna sit down and I’m gonna give this a shot … and get my friend Carly to sing on it.’ … The final product rarely exceeds your expectations, and this thing just kind of happened.”
While I can’t say that I’m officially a fan of this song yet, I just couldn’t help tapping my foot and bobbing my head along to the beat.
Looks like Carly and Owl City will have another summer hit song to add to their list of catchy tunes!
andPOP had an email interview with Adam Young, who talked about collaborating with Canadian singer, Lights, keeping in touch with friends and writing about personal relationships.
“Some are true, some are fabricated, some are metaphorical, some are written entirely from the imagination,” said the Minnesota native. “The only songs I’ve ever written 100% accurate to a very personal relationship of mine is a melancholy piano ballad entitled called Lonely Lullaby.”
Young said the song Lonely Lullaby is about his ex-girlfriend Ann Marie who he described as the “most wonderful, beautiful woman” he knew.
He was “madly in love with everything about her” and said she had a huge impact on his life.
Maybe communication was the reason their relationship didn’t last.
“Ironically I’m too shy to webcam with friends, or even family for that matter. I’m not much for phone calls or texting either. Communicating is just not something I’m crazy about. I’d rather communicate through music.”
When asked about All Things Bright and Beautiful, Owl City’s latest album, Young said that he wishes his music could portray the “pure and perfect dreams” his “imagination so effortlessly captures.” But translating what’s in one’s mind isn’t the easiest of tasks.
“I wanted the record to feel extremely innocent because of my innate fascination with all things that are pure and beautifully innocent. Nature might be the most perfect form of innocence I can think of and that’s ultimately why the album is very “forest/countryside” themed,” said Young.
As a multi-instrumentalist and producer, Young spent a lot of time polishing his “craft as an engineer” before worrying about writing lyrics or arranging songs.
“Rather than turn knobs without knowing what they do, this time around I made sure I really knew the gear I had in the studio before diving into the songwriting part of the process,” said Young. “The record is a notch up for me with respect to production, I’m really happy with how it turned out and I’m very excited about the next chapter in this wild and crazy story known as Owl City.”
While writing The Yacht Club, a dance track, Young decided that the track needed a “breathy, whimsical, dreamy female vocalist.” Guess who popped into his mind? Our very own Lights! And good choice too. For Young, it was a dream come true to work with her.
Breaking news: Adam Young, the artist behind the electronic/pop project Owl City reveals exclusively to andPOP that he he hates owls. In the Q&A, Young — whose single “Fireflies” continues to top charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 — dishes on a possible collaboration with Lights, insomnia, Canada and of course, his “intense dislike of owls” (sorry Owl Society).
“I really hate to pop your bubble, but I in fact have an intense dislike for owls,” admits Young. “I mean, honestly. Does anyone really like owls? They eat vermin and puke up nasty pellets. If I owned an owl I’d name it Toilet Face.”
While he may dislike owls, what he does love is music. Young, whose voice closely resembles that of Death Cab for Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard, describes his music like so: “It’s like a flock of sweaty sheep in gym clothes at Anytime Fitness relentlessly running on treadmills and eating powdered sugar donuts simultaneously while watching ‘Brady Bunch’ reruns on overhead TVs. It’s also like grass.”
